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Ohio Governor Puts Restrictions on Prescription Opioids

Submitted by Rachel Cohen on Mon, 04/03/2017 - 1:50pm

Ohio Governor John Kasich recently announced a new initiative to reduce the amount of opioids being prescribed by primary care physicians and dentists. This new order has been put in place to help combat the opioid epidemic that is currently sweeping the nation. This order does not apply to patients who require opioids for cancer pain or terminal illnesses. Moreover, this law should have little effect on patients with chronic illnesses that may require a prescribed dosage of pain medications for relief.

The new rule ensures primary care physicians and dentists can only prescribe no more than seven days of opioids for adults and five days for minors. It also requires doctors to provide a specific diagnosis and procedure code for every painkiller prescription they write. A similar order was issued in the state of Arizona not too long ago, making this initiative a popular one for states combating opioid and heroin addictions. Before this new rule, doctors were able to prescribed up to 90 days worth of opioids.